Ingersoll's Century History Santa Monica Bay Cities (Being Book Number Two of Ingersoll's Century Series of California Local History Annals), 1908a, 1769
The Name
The Indians were the only occupants of the coast for some time after the beginnings of settlement had been made at San Gabriel and Los Angeles. It is claimed that the party of Captain de Portolá, which made the first overland expedition through California in 1769 in search of the Bay of Monterey, passed through a cañada near the present location of the Soldiers' Home and paused under a group of sycamores while Father Crespi and Gomez, the priests accompanying the expedition said mass. A very old sycamore tree is pointed out as the one where the service was performed and is still looked upon with veneration.
We have no authentic account of how the name Santa Monica came to be applied; but the old Spanish settlers have a legend of its origins which may be true. The story is that a couple of Spanish soldiers were given a furlough to explore the region about the new pueblo de Los Angeles. They came one day to a couple of clear bubbling springs near the ocean. After drinking, they threw themselves upon the ground between the springs to rest. As they lay there on the gently sloping hillside, overlooking the wide, green plains and the ocean, one of them asked, "And what shall we call this spot, brother?"
And the other, turning from one glistening pool to the other, answered: "We will call it Santa Monica, for the springs resemble the tears of the good Santa Monica shed for her erring son."
The legend of Santa Monica is one of the most beautiful connected with the saints. According to tradition the holy woman was born in Africa about 332 A.D. She was brought up so strictly that she was not allowed even a [p.124] drink of water between meals and was early married to Patricius, a gentleman of hot and hasty temper. She had two sons and one of them Augustine, to the great grief of his mother, would not yield to her teachings and be baptized into the church. Instead, he was carried away by heresy and entered upon an immoral life. The mother spent much of her tme in praying for and weeping over the wayward son. For many years she sorrowed and once, in her despair, she went to a good bishop and related her woes. "Wait," the bishop told her, "and keep on praying. The child of so many tears cannnot perish."
At last the son fell ill and came near death. He recoverd however, in answer to his mother's prayers and this so softened his heart that at last he saw the error of his ways and became a devout believer, finally becoming the great Saint Augustine.
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[p. 180] Chapter III. From Town to City. 1880-1890.
[p. 180] John J. Carrillo [1842- ].-There is no better known figure in Santa Monica than that of John J. Carrillo, at present Police Judge of the city. He is a native son-the son and the grandson of native sons, and he belongs to one of the oldest and best known families of California. He is a descendant of José Raymundo Carrillo, a native of Loreto, who came to California in 1769. Of him Bancroft says: "He may be regarded as the founder of the Carrillo family, which must be considered in several respects the leading one in California, by reason of the number and prominence of its members and of their connection by marriage with so many of the best families, both native and pioneer."
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